TALLAHASSEE — A litter-control proposal that would have imposed a deposit on beverage containers quickly died Monday when a legislative study committee recommended lawmakers do nothing more than another study.

State Sen. Jeanne Malchon, D-St. Petersburg, the leading proponent of a bottle deposit, conceded the 6 to 2 vote killed the idea for at least another year. She blamed election year politics and the retail and bottling industry.

''What we have in effect done is nothing,'' she said. ''We have recommended another study commission with no funding so we're back to where we were last year. The industry has once again prevailed.''

Citing extensive support for deposit legislation, Malchon said her colleagues shortchanged constituents.

''I think the public has been cheated. It's clear they wanted this bill,'' she said.

Newspaper polls show 66 percent of the public supports deposit legislation. Numerous state agencies, the Florida League of Cities, the State Association of County Commissioners, environmentalists and numerous cities and counties also have endorsed the so-called bottle bill.

Made up of four representatives and four senators, the study panel was created by the Legislature last year after the bottle bill failed to pass a key Senate committee.

Malchon said she agreed to the study because she believed it would favor the bottle bill and take the heat off her colleagues who felt a need to vote with opponents. Unfortunately, she said, the study panel did not have an independent, professional staff as originally intended that could have verified voluminous data.

Opponents, including the Florida Retail Grocery Association, the Florida Hotel and Motel Association and the Beer Industry of Florida, have argued that a bottle deposit would boost the cost of beverages and force retailers to build larger outlets to store returned bottles and cans.

Their influence was evident at Monday's meeting. Several committee members were wearing green stickers bearing a three-leaf clover for St. Patrick's Day and advertising Lite beer.

The recommendation adopted by the study commission was a combination of two watered-down proposals. Malchon was pushing a proposal from the League of Women Voters. Key parts included a 5-cent refundable deposit on all standard- sized glass, metal and plastic containers and a 20-cent deposit on plastic containers that are 2 liters and larger.

The league also proposed a commission to study litter-control programs that require state support or changes in the state's tax structure.

The second proposal, supported by retailers and the bottling industry, would have established a litter tax of 0.03 percent on the gross sales of manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers of products that wind up as litter, such as bottles and fast-food containers.

The money would have been used to promote anti-littering programs and to clean up waste. Environmentalists and Malchon opposed it because they said it would promote rather than reduce littering.

After defeating the bottle bill, the study panel pulled bits and pieces of the league proposal and the litter tax proposal -- minus the litter tax -- to form its recommendation.